Hizballah's Iranian commander, Gen. Hossein Mahadavi of Al Qods  Brigades, has  , ,        , ha   polished a plan for seizing power in Beirut just before the UN tribunal delivers indictments for top Hizballah officers'  trial in the murder of Rafiq Hariri. Joint Hizballah, Syrian and Iranian forces ...

Hizballah's top four commanders await indictment by the UN Special Tribunal for the 2005 murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, debkafile's exclusive sources reveal. The STL expects to issue the indictments next month or early January 2011. If Hizballah makes good on its threat to forcibly overthrow the Lebanese government and so preempt its officers' extradition, Lebanon may find itself governed by terrorists also inculpated for political assassination by an international tribunal.

In his farewell briefing to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, Tuesday, Nov. 2, departing Israel Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin listed the threats to Israel as headed by Iran. But he warned that Syria is buying advanced Russian self-propelled air defense missiles with long-range optical ...

Hizballah last Thursday, Oct. 28, conducted a command exercise in all parts of Lebanon to test its armed militia's readiness for what its leaders called "zero hour" i.e. asserting its grip on Lebanon and "cornering" Prime Minister Saad Hariri. DEBKA's sources report: It led up to Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah's sabre-rattling speech that night threatening the Hariri government and Israel with war.

In a sudden about-face, the Saudis Monday, Oct. 25, urged Lebanon's pro-Western Prime Minister Saad Hariri to step down without delay and make way for an administration dominated by pro-Syrian ministers and Hizballah. King Abdullah, according to debkafile's Middle East and Beirut sources, sees no other way of saving Lebanon from tipping over into bloody strife over Hizballah's demand to disband the international tribunal probing the 2005 murder of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

Hizballah's Nasrallah has rallied the Lebanese Druzes and other allies before going to war on two fronts - the Lebanese government over the Hariri tribunal's indictment of his top members and Israel. He plans to get in the first blow before year's end.

The first reconstruction of the massive explosion which killed former prime minister Rafiq Hariri in Beirut five years ago was conducted at the Captieux military base in France Tuesday, Oct. 19 in the presence of international explosives experts. It was set up by the Office of Danielle Bellemare, Prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, in line with its mandate to "identify and prosecute those responsible for the attack." This re-enactment takes the inquiry a large step forward.

The Iranian and Syrian presidents agreed in Tehran Saturday, Oct. 2, to support  Hizballah's grab of Lebanon's power centers, including the capital Beirut, right after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ends his controversial two-day visit to the country on October 13-14. They also decided to harass the Saad Hariri government until it dissolves the UN tribunal probing the Hariri murder - or is overthrown.

The arrest warrants for 33 individuals issued by Damascus amounts to a declaration of war.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Bashar Assad finalized plans to back a Hizballah coup against the Lebanese government when they met in Damascus Saturday, Sept. 18, debkafile's military and Mid East sources report.  Hizballah called a general mobilization that same day and by Sunday had 5,000 armed men deployed in Beirut, ready to make good on its threat to seize power rather than let its leaders be indicted by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) for the Hariri murder.

Terrorists attacking US troops in Iraq are masterminded, trained and abetted by officers of the Lebanese Hizballah. A US intelligence source told debkafile Monday, Sept. 6: "Hizballah is striking US targets in Iraq as sub-contractor for Iran and Syria."Our sources report Hizballah is spearheading their drive to resuscitate the Eastern Front which threatened Israel in the days of Saddam Hussein. Its contemporary form would be led from Tehran.

Bashar Assad and Hassan Nasrallah conclude a military cooperation pact for war against Israel on the premise that it will erupt in the near future. Damascus sets red lines for going to war against Israel. They set up a joint command staffed with Syrian and Hizballah officers working out ...

Syria and Hizballah collude to install a radical Shiite government in Baghdad, by forging an alliance between the two Iraqi Shiite foes - outgoing PM Nouri al-Maliki and radical cleric Moqtada Sadr.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards chief Gen. Mohamed Ali Jafari, who rarely leaves his country, paid a secret visit to Damascus a few hours before Tehran launched the Bushehr nuclear reactor Saturday, Aug. 21. With him were top Al Qods Brigades commanders in Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian territories. They conferred with Bashar Assad on roles for Syria and Hizballah in an Iranian reprisal for a US or Israel attack - or a "pre-emptive strike" against Israel.

Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri Monday, July 26, consigned another 1,500 troops to the country's southern border.  debkafile: Their mission is not just to guard French peacekeepers, but to fend off a Hizballah provocation of Israel to disrupt the landmark visits led by Saudi King Abdullah and Syrian president Bashar Assad to Beirut Friday. Nasrallah says he will blow up any bid to weaken Syrian-Hizballah ties.

Hizballah's leader Hassan Nasrallah used threats of violence to toss back the bomb placed under his movement by word that the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon intends to indict high Hizballah security officials for the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

debkafile's military sources report that the tribunal's investigators have linked eight of the 20 cell phones found at the scene of the murder to Hizballah's special security and intelligence apparatus and senior commanders.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu keeps on vowing that Iran will not be allowed to establish an outpost on Israel's borders, but he has not lifted a finger to stop this menace ensconcing itself in the north - even though this is a gross violation of UN Security Council resolution 1701. Iran's proxy has therefore won the first round of its drive to recover the forward positions lost in the 2006 war and stands ready for the next.

Ominous clouds gathered over the Mediterranean Thursday, June 24 after Israel announced that ships bound for Gaza would be deemed "enemy vessels" and halted by its navy. Hizballah shot back with a threat of violent retaliation, while Israel's northern commander warned the IDF was prepared to deal with threats from Lebanon by "appropriate means."
Fearing war, Lebanese PM Saad Hariri acted to stall the sea campaign.

North Korean ruler Kim Jong-Il was a key player in Middle East war-or-peace quandary this week for the second time in three years. Obama failed to prevent the proliferation of his ballistic missiles to the Middle East.

Israel's generals and security chiefs are up in arms over the US-fostered military restraint policy pursued by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

The colossal Syrian-Hizballah missile deployment funded by Iran points in only one direction: Israel. It is controlled from a joint Iran-Syria-Hizballah-Hamas command center established in March at Syrian GHQ in Damascus for attacking Israeli military and civilian sites organized in four sectors.
Syria's production lines have been humming for five months converting its missiles from liquid-fuel to the more accurate solid-fuel ballistic missiles with the help of North Korean experts.